Live Review: Handmade Festival 2015

handmadelineup

Right when I was about to burst from stress, with only the prospect of the summer’s music keeping me going, a free pass was dropped in my metaphorical lap. Leicester’s ever growing genre-bending independent music festival was just the weekend I needed. I headed down to the O2 Academy representing LUSH Radio and it was the first time (though hopefully not the last) that I entered a venue with my name legitimately on the press list. It could technically be considered my first festival experience and I was determined to make the most of it.

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Live Review: Seasick Steve, O2 Academy Sheffield, 16th April 2015

seasick steve

Photo Source: Kevin Wells

There are two things in music, and indeed life in general, that are hard not to love: an underdog and something that breaks away from the norm. A former hobo in his seventies that plays the blues on instruments made from junk certainly fits in both of those categories. Against all the odds Seasick Steve has been one of the leading figures in the latest blues revival and become a much-loved public figure. I caught this colourful character on his latest UK tour in support of his new album ‘Sonic Soul Surfer’. Continue reading